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A Brief Account 

OF THE 

Sufferings and Services 

OF 

Christopher Holder 

FOR THE 

Faith of Friends 



/- 



(hxiJtopner Jiffldi^ 

( Copy of Autogiaph — 1659 ) 



"I only know he heard God's voice 
And crossed the sea to work for Him." 

Christopher Holder, a young man, 
suffered such tortures for his faith as 
a Friend that he was known as "The 
Mutilated." 

An Englishman of good birth 
and breeding — follower of George 
Fox and forerunner of William Penn 
— he gladly gave purse, body and 
mind for the aid of his faith. 

His first attempts in Boston were 
short-lived, for he was immediately 
imprisoned and sent back to England. 
The next j'ear he came again, and 
torture and banishment were his — but 
with them came triumph, for here in 
Sandwich he preached his message at 
the spot that bears his name — 
Christopher's Hollow in 16 57 — and 
here founded the Society of Friends 
in America. Among its original mem- 
bers were our ancestors by the name 
of Wing. Later, during his imprison- 
ment in Boston, he wrote the First 
Declaration of the Faith of Friends. 

Now into this austere young life 
had come romance. He was be- 
trothed to Mary Scott of Providence 
Plantations — daughter of Richard 
Scott, a faithful Friend. Her mother, 
Katherine (Marbury) Scott, sister of 
Anne Hutchinson, had borne scourg- 
ing and imprisonment for remonstrat- 
ing with Governor Endicott against 
his treatment of Christopher Holder 
and the Friends. 

So with Mary Dyer, that martyr 
that-was-to-be, Mary Scott and her 
friend, Hope Clifton, journeyed to 
Boston to offer cheer to those so dear 
to them in such distressful need. For 
their zeal all were cast into gaol. 

Later, when Christopher Holder was 
banished from Boston "under pain of 
death, if he return," his betrothed, 
Mary Scott, (with her mother), joined 
him in "Old England," and there they 
were married. 

At that time Charles the Second was 
on the throne, and among those high 
in his favor were Sir Christopher 
Wren (the architect), kinsman of 

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;5^Christopher Holder and Sir John 

Dryden (the poet laureate), kinsman 

^"of Mary (Scott) Holder. Tradition 

"""says that partly through such power- 

■^ ;ful allies the king's ear was reached, 

and Christopher Holder's efforts in be- 

■t^ half of the persecuted Friends in 

America were successful. 

When Christopher Holder and his 
wife returned to America, at least in 
part through their efforts the wor- 
ship of God according to the faith of 
Friends no longer might mean death. 

They dwelt for a while on Patience 
Island in Narragansett Bay. This 
island was the marriage dower of 
Mary (Scott) Holder from her father. 
It is a beautiful "green isle in the 
sea" (still owned by descendants), 
and for years was a refuge for 
the persecuted and oppressed. Here 
were born two daughters to Christo- 
pher Holder and his wife, Mary. 
The eldest (her mother's namesake) ~ 
is the one through whose descendants 
Christopher Holder is the ancestor of 
m.any of the Wing Family of Ameri- 
ca. Their married life was but a few 
years. Mary (Scott) Holder died and 
was buried at nearby Newport, in 
tha,t place of peace, the Clifton bury- 
ing-ground, given to the Friends by 
Thomas Clifton, father of Hope 
Clifton, that dear friend of Mary 
Scott, who had gone with her to see 
Christopher Holder, during his im- 
prisonment in Boston. 

So for his second marriage, it is 
pleasing to know, that he chose Hope 
Clifton. 

During the troublous times of King 
Philip's War the people of Newport 
sought the advice of their townsman, 
Christopher Holder, though a man of 
peace and faith, undoubtedly one 
wise in counsel. 

After the death of his wife, Hope, 
Christopher Holder left New England, 
where he had achieved so much for 
his faith, and ended his life of 
fragrant memory in Old England of 
his youth. It is good today to visit the 
beautiful Holder Memorial in Clinton, 
Massachusetts, erected by a descend- 
ant. There are gladly preserved all 
obtainable that pertain to the Historj- 
of the Society of Friends in America, 
and its founder. Christopher Holder. 

He, not unlike that young Saint 
Augustine, "came one time a mission- 
ing," and his mission has not been un- 
fulfilled. 



Written to be read at 

Christopher's Hollow, in 

Sandwich, Massachusetts, 

at the 

Reunion of the Wing Family 

of America 

by 

William Arthur Wing 

1908 



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